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Former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno leaves the James T. Foley U.S. Courthouse with his son and attorney Ken Bruno, right, on Wednesday. (Lori Van Buren, Times Union)

A federal jury acquitted former Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno of political corruption charges at his retrial Friday, clearing the one-time Republican powerhouse from Rensselaer County of charges he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickback money from a Loudonville businessman.

The panel of nine women and three men, which began deliberating around 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, delivered its verdict to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Gary L. Sharpe just after noon: not guilty on both counts of “honest services” mail fraud.

The heart of the case against Bruno, 85, of Brunswick, were allegations that he accepted $360,000 in consulting payments that federal prosecutors alleged were just a cover for bribes and kickbacks in exchange for his political influence as one of the three most powerful politicians in state government. The man paying him $20,000 a month to be a consultant, Jared E. Abbruzzese, 59, who now lives in Jupiter, Fla., also paid Bruno for a horse the federal prosecutors said was “worthless.” The official sale in the horse — who was insured for $10,000 — was $80,000.

The 85-year-old Bruno, a Glens Falls native who built a successful telecommunications business before his election to the state Senate, was convicted of the same charges in 2009 in a trial at which jurors acquitted him of five other fraud counts, and could not decide on a sixth count.

Bruno was sentenced to two years in prison by Sharpe, who presided over the first trial. The conviction was thrown out when the Supreme Court ruled that honest services must include proof of a kickback or bribe. Federal prosecutors obtained permission to retry Bruno from a mid-level federal appeals court that determined there was enough evidence to support a second trial under the new standards.

What is the conclusion to be drawn?
If you’re a working class nobody involved in bribery, perhaps a cop or inspector taking a few hundred dollars, you’re likely to go to jail.
If you’re the long time leader of a political party, & leader of the state senate, if you’re rich, & in bed with other 1%ers, and can afford the best lawyers, you’re likely to get away with bribery.
Just like working class nobody bank robbers who walk up to the teller demanding cash who are likely to go to jail, while the bank & Wall St executives who rip off billions and never go to jail.
But worse than Bruno’s getting away with clearly illegal bribery, is the everyday bribery that is legal – campaign “contributions” buying corporate welfare & other political favors.

No winners here. Not Bruno, who paid 10 times in lawyers fees what he made in consulting contracts and certainly doesn’t come out of this with his reputation enhanced. Not the TU editorial board that seemed intent on getting a pound of flesh. Not the US attorneys office, which should be embarrassed by the amount of time and money spent with nothing to show for it. Not the Judge, who seemed to be favoring the prosecution in both trials. And certainly not the taxpayers.

Time to demand New York State laws be passed that prevent powerful political people from emptying the treasury giving money to their friends right after they hired the politician as a “consultant.” Also, time for David Soares to question how Joe could have had his NY State employee routinely handling his private business matters. Finally, time to stop naming ball parks after people who rob NY taxpayers by having his daughter work in a now show job for the SUNY Foundation. WE respect the decision of the jury–but it points out that New York laws need to be strengthened in this area–and when Cuomo called off his Moreland Commission he lost any leverage he had on legislators. The deal Cuomo got this session will not stop any of NY’s corruption issues. PATHETIC!

Sammy- the conclusion to be drawn is that the prosecution failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and a jury of the defendants peers decided not to convict.

Obviously, the jury must have been comprised of 12 rich, corporate elite 1 percenters.
I’m sure Joe would have preferred to be represented by the public defender, but he would not qualify due to his income, so he had no choice but to retain the services of local counsel.

Joe wants you to think that he did everything for his constituents, which he did….with money stolen from everyone else in the State. I think it should be illegal to name any structure, even a pothole, after a convicted or disgraced pompadour.

Shame on our Federal Government for their conduct in what amounts to a political witch hunt in its purest form. To all those hell bent on seeing this man convicted shame on you, we have a system of equal justice. Found not guilty not once but twice…..it’s over folk, this over zealous aggressive progressives in government need to dial it down!

God Bless You Joe! Thank you for all the good you have brought our region. You have accomplished more for our region in your years of service then any of the incompetent liberals could ever achieve in our region. Every time liberals take power our great region takes so many real progressive steps back…congratulations Joe!

It makes me laugh when people say look how much he did for our region ! He did it with your money, not a dime of his. Also, our region got more then they deserved while the regions without the political power got less then they deserved. Mr. Bruno is the poster child of what’s wrong with Albany. Mr. Cuomo isn’t much better, he just wants you to think he did something to get rid of the stench the comes out of Albany.

Joe Bruno always brought home the bacon (or the pork, depending on how you look at it). For that reason, I’d vote for him again and again. It’s a me-first society, in case you haven’t noticed. You have to play by the rules as they are and not by the rules as you wish they’d be. Hugh Farley, on the other hand, barely brings home the drippings. There’s a huge difference. We need more leaders like Bruno, but only for my own district.

It is fitting that Bruno needed to empty his campaign treasury to defend himself. He received that money from corrupt donors trying to buy his influence! It is also fitting that his reputation is ruined and his other deceitful actions have become public. Joe Bruno–the poster boy for political corruption–even if he walked on these charges. Lets keep looking at what other legislators are hiring themselves out as consultants and then emptying large parts of what we pay in taxes to their cronies without any benefit to the state!

“A federal government political trial developed by an Obama U.S. Justice Department Federal Attorney never convict anyone.”
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The federal probe began under the Bush administration….

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